Uncanny Encounters
by VitaminG
Summary: Reserved Lumina isn't the most outspoken girl. She just can't find the guts to tell her grandma that she doesn't like being molded into a "proper lady." But when farmer Jill gets her hands on Lumina, what turn will Lumina's life take?


Lavished in the finest riches and housed in the grandest mansion in town, there lies a girl fated to inherit a large fortune. Imagine this said girl to meet with another - a regular. The regular could make small talk of the weather, his job, or maybe even his wife; but the girl could only blankly stare, for she had none of those. The regular, during this talk, would regard the girl with envy, but the girl would shoot glares of the very same feeling, for, life of the rich was not all the whispers in town made it out to be. What good was fine clothing if no companion stood next to you, admiring how well your body fit the velvet dress as if it were made to fit you. No gloved hand had any use if it held no avail to aiding your loved ones, or giving one the sweet sensation of buying your family a gift with your own gold. What use held a room flooded with books if you could not even test your wit?

-----------------------

It was a common known fact around Forget-Me-Not-Valley that if you stood outside the grand mansion around noon, you could hear a melodious tune from within. Some villagers would stop upon hearing this tune, maybe even sway their body around for a moment; and then they would blissfully return to their every day lives - now filled with energy from the music. Others with sharper ears, however, would stop at hearing the melody, then quietly observe its melancholy undertone. Perhaps then they would shake their heads, uttering, "Poor girl," under their breathes and resume whatever business they had to attend.

Those, however, were every _common_ day. This day was a clear summer day, where the sun sat in the sky and decided to show off its radiance to the valley. Lumina, the granddaughter of the mansion's mistress, sat inside, right in front of the piano. Her slim fingers danced across the keys, the same melancholy tune mentioned before filling up the room. She concentrated her eyes on the keys, but she was already growing quite tired. Her fingers already felt like they were going to fall off, and the heat certainly wasn't helping. She wipped the sweat from her brow and took a sip of the iced water sitting atop the piano.

Sebastian was sitting on the couch nearby, nodding his head to the music. He rose and gave Lumina a warm smile. "Miss Lumina, you've improved immensely in these past few weeks," he stepped forward to refill Lumina's water glass.

Lumina put her finger to her lip, then tilted her head at this. "Not enough for grandma. It seems I shall never be good enough for her approval." While Romona was around, Lumina had to call her grandmother auntie, of all the things. It seems that she just couldn't accept the fact that she was a grandmother, after all. Yet, when talking to Sebastian, she could freely refer to her as grandma.

Sebastian was now in the kitchen. "Oh, don't think like that. She wants merely what's best for you. And are you hungry, miss Lumina? I can fix something for you."

"No thank you, Sebastian. I'm not hungry, and I think I shall take a walk by the Goddess Pond, in case you need me. Tata," and with a slight wave of her hand to the butler, Lumina left for the Goddess Pond.

The sun had nearly blinded the poor girl's sockets out after their being used to the dim-light mansion. She practically had to cover her eyes with her forearm to see anything at all, which was merely the town hobo, Murrey standing by the fountain.

"Money, moi?" he looked desperatley at her, his hands out in a pleading position. Lumina sighed, and continued down the path, but Murrey persisted and followed her all the way to the local bar. "Money, moi?" she continued to hear him say. A very vivid image, however, replayed in her head, as it did every time she saw Murrey. In this flashback, Lumina was just a child, staring out the window in hysterics and pointing at Murrey, who stood outside.

"Is he a bad man?" her eyes desperately glanced into her grandmother's, a pleading yet glint inside of them.

Ramona was sitting on their leather couch, flipping through a magazine while sipping at her coffee. She didn't even look up to answer, "No, he's not a bad man, but rather, a poor man. He begs everyone for money, but he somehow loses it. Just don't associate yourself with him, child."

The young Lumina's hysterics had disappeared, and now she looked at her grandmother rather than at the window. "What makes someone poor?" she tilted her head and put a finger on her chi-

Lost in her thoughts, Lumina didn't even notice that someone was jogging in front of her, a strong force pushed into her. "I'm so sorry, miss. Are you okay?" it was the local athlete, Wally.

"Er... um... I'm fine, thank you," she looked down at her feet shyly, her face now flushed, and then scurried off to the Goddess Pond. There were only so many people that Lumina could freely talk to, or even look in the eye, and Wally certainly wasn't one of them.


End file.
